Earlier today Meta announced Quest 3, a sequel to the best-selling VR headset of all time. The device, that starts at US$499 now includes a  powerful chip from Qualcomm, better screens, and an ability called "passthrough" which is expected to be one of the key features on Apple’s competing Vision Pro headset. It's set to ship on October 10.

Like Apple Vision Pro, Meta's new defining feature for Quest 3 headset is the ability to quickly see the world outside the headset, which will make the device more comfortable to use for long periods because it is less isolating. When in an app on the Quest 3, double-tapping any part of the headset brings you out of a virtual world and into "passthrough" mode. Apple calls this EyeSight.

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Other improvements include "pancake lenses," a kind of optic first used on Meta’s $1499 Quest Pro that make images sharper and allow for higher resolution.

CNBC was able to try out the Quest 3 for about an hour-long demo ahead of its launch Wednesday. CNBC was able to play games and walked through a few programs that showed off the company’s hardware.

The hardware has been significantly updated, with a new headband strap and a slimmer headset shape. The new headband splits the top strap into two straps over the user’s head to distribute weight better. The whole headset, though, is a hair heavier than its predecessor at 515 grams. The speakers on the device have also been improved, and provide a quality audio experience without as much sound leaking out.

Meta has also updated the two necessary controllers with better haptic feedback. It uses Qualcomm’s Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 chip, which is Arm-based and closer in power and energy drain to a mobile processor than a PC processor.

The extra power on the chip is used to power displays at 2064x2208 resolution per eye, higher than the Quest 2′s 1,832x1,920 resolution per eye. The additional pixels will make it easier to read text inside the headset. Users can expect about two hours and twelve minutes of battery life, Meta says.

Passthrough, while a core component of mixed reality experiences which integrate computer graphics with the real world, for now is a nice-to-have usability feature. In practice, it means that users can stop their game or experience inside the Quest 3 without taking the headset off. During the demo, I was able to cchat with Meta officials while wearing the headset, a major improvement over the last version.

If there’s one major difference between Meta and Apple at this point, it’s that Meta envisions the Quest mainly as a gaming device, while Apple frames its device as a computer. Meta says it’s lined up 500 games and apps for the headset, including a Ghostbusters title, an Assassin’s Creed game, and a Stranger Things experience developed in conjunction with Netflix.

For more on this, read the full CNBC report and/or the review by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman here (behind a paywall).